FONTANA – About 2,500 unionized Kaiser Permanente employees in Southern California began a three-day strike today (Wednesday), forming picket lines at hospitals here, in Los Angeles and in San Diego.

The employees, who are members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, staged the strike to protest potential changes to their retirement and medical benefits, and to demand increased staffing levels.

The employees, which include about 1,100 nurses, 1,100 counselors and therapists, and 300 other healthcare workers, are working under a contract with Kaiser Permanente that expired last year.

A renewed contract is being negotiated, according to union employees and a Kaiser statement.

“We continue to bargain in good faith and look forward to reaching a fair and equitable contract,” said a statement from Kaiser on the organization’s website.

Kaiser said it’s “taken necessary steps to ensure minimal disruption” during the strike.

Medical centers were scheduled to remain open, though some patients may be forced to reschedule appointments, according to Kaiser’s statement.

One of the strikers, Marty Needleman, a psychiatric social worker at a Kaiser facility in Montclair, said hospital management has attempted to cut costs by keeping staffing levels low, thus reducing the quality of patients’ care.

Needleman said he’s a member of the union committee currently negotiating with Kaiser over a new contract.

He said Kaiser has proposed changing employees’ retirement plans from a defined pension to a 401(k)-style plan.

He said Kaiser is seeking to increase premiums and co-payments for employees’ medical plans – plans that the company has proposed to cut in quality, according to Needleman.

He said such cost-cutting measures could result in experienced Kaiser employees leaving for other companies.

“They’re focused on this being a money-making enterprise, but they’re sacrificing patient care for those profits,” Needleman said.

Needleman said union employees will remain on strike through Friday. He said he hopes Kaiser negotiates in a more “open and respectful manner” following the walkout.

Employees’ return to work is not contingent on a new deal being reached, he said.

“We’re not trying to be greedy,” Needleman said. “We’re not trying to be selfish. We’re trying to be very practical about everything. But we’re met with blank stares or disdain (from Kaiser). It’s a little hard to work on negotiations with that feeling coming at you.”

Strikers in Fontana were joined by workers who formed picket lines at a Kaiser medical center at Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, and at a facility in San Diego.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, about 1,500 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers also walked out today. They were joined in their strike by about 19,000 other union workers in the Bay Area, according to a statement.

A statement on Kaiser’s website said: “Kaiser Permanente is in contract negotiations with the National Union of Healthcare Workers, and out of respect for the negotiating process we must refrain from bargaining publicly.

“However, it is important to know that we are bargaining in good faith, and have provided the NUHW with proposals covering all aspects of the new agreements we are attempting to reach with them.

“Instead of responding with counter proposals, the NUHW has asked its 2,500 members in Southern California and 1,500 members in Northern California to strike. This is disappointing and counterproductive.

“The proposals we have presented to the NUHW will ensure that Kaiser Permanente remains a great place to work for NUHW-represented employees, and that they will continue to receive highly desirable, market-competitive compensation and benefits.

“While we recognize the NUHW’s legal right to conduct a strike, we believe the bargaining table is the best place to resolve differences. Despite the union’s decision to strike, we will continue to negotiate in good faith, and hope the union will soon engage constructively in bargaining with us.”

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